Reviewing and discussing books (mostly YA and children's), reading and writing from the perspective of a secondary English teacher, research student and writer. My research is on reading, YA and diversity, so I'm sure that will be reflected here too.

Event Report: A Change Is Gonna Come in Birmingham

I was fortunate enough to attend a panel event celebrating my Book of the Month, A Change Is Gonna Come, yesterday evening. It took place in Birmingham Waterstones, and we were treated to discussions from two of the authors, Patrice Lawrence and debut Yasmin Rahman, chaired by superstar blogger Mariam Khan (@helloiammariam).

Much of the discussion was around the need for this book, the spaces for BAME voices in publishing and representation issues more broadly. I thought I’d share with you some of the top comments I noted:

There are more BAME writers in this one volume than are being published in YA in the UK this year. Ouch.

Both authors spoke about wanting to contribute to a breadth of representation, to help young people be able to find themselves in books. Patrice Lawrence specifically talked about being a child who was never like the heroine in books (‘girls described as beautiful never had my skin colour, nose shape or lips like me’) and was saddened by Yasmin’s agreement, as she is much younger (‘Still? This is why we need this book.’)

Both authors also agreed that there is pressure on BAME writers in particular to be seen as representing their whole ethnicity when they write, whereas that pressure does not seem to apply to white writers, so whatever a Jamaican heritage writer does for example would be seen as therefore reflective of Jamaican writers, rather than purely themselves. There was some discussion about this also being true in the world in general: that you are expected to reflect the community in how you behave/dress/generally comport yourself, so this naturally also carries across to writing.

It was very clear that this collection is not just ‘for’ BAME readers. Obviously, there is a desire to reach readers of different heritages who may not have been able to find themselves in books before, but it is also important that white readers are able to read outside of themselves (ourselves), which we haven’t had enough opportunity to do in the past. I would add that this is a really important aspect for empathy and understanding. It’s really hard for people to see past themselves when they are only ever presented with images like themselves.

I was struck by Patrice Lawrence’s generosity and humility when asked about her feelings on winning the YA Book Prize and the YA category of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize with her debut novel Orangeboy (which is fab, by the way). She talked about how pleased she was that the award proved that there was an appetite and a market for BAME stories and that it might encourage publishers to be bolder in publishing them. She had talked earlier about how hard it had been to get the book published, with only one editor at one publishing house being willing to take a chance on it.

Both writers, and Mariam as chair were very complimentary to Stripes the publisher for their work on this project. It represents the start of a real commitment to increasing BAME representation in YA for them. They took on a (paid) editorial mentee to work on the collection (who has since gained an editorial role in another publishing house), who is credited in the book. They have since advertised for an editor of BAME background and are currently (through September) open to submissions from BAME writers, so this wasn’t a one-shot, trend-hopping thing for them.

It was a great event and if you have anything similar near you, or have the opportunity to book a #ChangeBook school event, grab it with both hands. Contact Charlie at Stripes’ Marketing/Publicity for more info.

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